13th Age Campaign Session V: That is not Dead Which can Eternal lie

13 Age Campaign Session V -- That is not Dead Which can Eternal lie

When we last left our heroes, a priest of Dagon had just plunged his ensorcelled blade deep into his chest.

You fools! Dagon will not be denied this night! She will not be denied!

Something was coming.

Nerd Things I'm Thankful for Today

It’s Thanksgiving, and that’s a day that even the Sith pause for a moment to reflect on what they’re thankful for. So come along with me and explore that (nerdish) things that I’m thankful for on this day.

Here is my first annual White Hot Top 5 of Thanksgiving thanks for 2014.

Toolkit: The Montage

This is part one of a new series over at ‘OnTheDie, items you can use as part of your toolkit when you run a role-playing game.

Last time in my 13th Age campaign summary, I mentioned that I used a montage mechanic for how the group found one of the bad guys. As promised, let’s talk about the montage and what it can do for you.

13th Age Campaign Session IV: Shadows Over Eldolan

13 Age Campaign Session IV -- Shadows Over Eldolan

Editor's Note: Many of you have noted the use of puns in the session titles. Even though it may not look like it, this one is a pun as well. Take ye heed!

Last session the group had defeated the Dream Master. This session began with the spoils of that victory. In other words, there was loot.

The group pored over what they presumed was the Dream Master’s workshop. They found a ledger  that went back just over two months. About a month ago, new line items for bodies both live and dead started to show up.

There were two names associated with it who were taking the supplies: Landon, with a notation about the Dead Vaults, and Aerto, a “broker” in the docks.

The group additionally found a large amount of coins (the Dream Master’s ill-gotten gains) and quite a bit of Dream Leaf. They quickly put everything together and left, planning a discussion on what to do next for tomorrow. The Dream Master had taxed them to their limits, and the only thing to do was get a night’s sleep.

As they left the building they were met by Kalia, the girl they had spoken with earlier in the day, and who had told them how to find the theater.

“Wicked! That was absolutely incredible, what did you do there?”

Quickfire: Bundle of Holding

While I'm working on my update from the 13th Age campaign (note to self: don't tell people you're back when you have two 3000 word posts to write...) I wanted to do a quick update that a lot of you might actually use about the Bundle of Holding.

I'm sure all of you have heard about the Humble Bundle: a program where you can get loads of great software for a pay-what-you-want price, and the proceeds to go charity. If you haven't heard of it, time to click on that link above and also fine yourself 10 Quatloos.

What you likely haven't heard about is the Bundle of Holding. a similar project for role-playing games. Bundle of Holding offers bundles of PDF versions of different RPGs, with the proceeds again going either to the authors or to charity, as you prefer.

The current bundle is games for the Fate RPG system. I really like Fate, and moreover, the people who create it are great people. If you've never ventured outside of games like Dungeons and Dragons, Fate will come as a shock to your senses. While it's still a traditional game with a GM, players and Mountain Dew, it allows the players to work with the GM to tell the story of the game much more collaboratively.

If you've never heard of it, it's a great time to get pretty much everything for the game. I think you'll have a great time reading it and it will make you think about gaming in an entirely different light.

The bundle comes with the following:

• Fate Core rules
• Day After Ragnarok -- WW2 Post Apocalyptic role-playing where the Germans woke up the Midgard Serpant.
• Iron Edda -- a Norse giant mecha game where the mecha are made from the bones of giants.
• The Ministry Initiative -- Victorian Steampunk
• Base Raiders -- explore superhero bases in a world where all the heroes and villains just up and disappeared one day.
• Jadepunk -- a Martial Arts Wuxia game where you're rebels against an evil government.
• The Pirates Guide to Freeport -- the Freeport campaign setting for Fate.
• Tianxia: Blood, Silk, & Jade -- a full-on martial-arts game set in a fantasy ancient China.

Wow. That's a crazy amount of stuff you can get, and the games are fun to read even if it turns out you're not going to play Fate.

So check out the bundle and hold on just a bit ... large article coming shortly. Until then, Make Mine 20!

Edition Wars: Threat or Menace?

Editor's note: And ... we're back. Thanks for being a bit patient with us over at OnTheDie. A mixture of work and illness kept me from these updates for a bit. It definitely had nothing to do with a bit too much celebration for my Sith Anniversary (AKA my birthday) or having to fight off some angry Jedi. The important thing is that WE'RE BACK!

Welcome back to 20OnTheDie’s opinion column where we ask and answer the questions of the day in an angry and argumentative fashion.

Fresh from this year’s Gamehole Con, there are a number of important topics to discuss, so let's get to them.

Quickfire: Project Gutenberg and the King In Yellow

Hail to the King!

As the my Sith plans to celebrate my next successful revolution around the sun continue, I wanted to make sure to still have an update for you.

Since it's October, many of you are doubtless thinking about Halloween and other scary things.

I wanted to share a link with you to something that's very appropriate for this time of year.

Project Gutenberg, a site that if you don't know about you should stop and immediately check out, hosts free e-books in a wide variety of formats for books that are old enough to be outside of copyright protection.

I was browsing through there the other day, and found that they host many of Robert Chambers books. Who's he? An author that contributed to the Cthulhu mythos, that's who.

If you are one of the fans of HBO's True Detective that was wondering what all that stuff about Carsosa was all about, I bring you Robert Chambers The King in Yellow. This will be especially important to those of you who watched True Detective with me or my fellow blogger over at the Vorpal Chainsword, only to have us talk about "Carcosa" in the creepiest voices we could manage.

So what's it all about? Check it out on Project Gutenberg and find out.

And you should especially read about it late at night, in a spooky old house with no one around.

That would be perfect.

Hopefully I will be back with a big article on Friday, so until then, Make Mine 20!

Game Balance: Threat or Menace?

First in a series.

Angry before it was cool.

Welcome to my Threat or Menace series where I talk about issues that are controversial in gaming. In case  you’re wondering, “Threat or Menace?” is taken from the desk of J. Jonah Jameson, who frequently writes after Spiderman would do something to save all of New York from certain destruction:

SPIDERMAN: THREAT OR MENACE?

That's my source and inspiration for this series of editorials. This is my series where I’ll get as close to being political as ever in 20OnTheDie. It’s also where I won’t shy away from a fight. As always, I appreciate comments, so let’s get a discussion started.

13th Age Campaign Session III: Dream Master: a Love Story

13 Age Campaign Session III -- Dream Master: a Love Story

Note: sadly, Teri Hatcher will not be appearing in this session.

The group, in possession of a cart, and twelve rapidly cooling bodies of the Ratsmashers considered how they were going to make their move against the Dream Master.

Dragur’s shadow had done a thorough reconnaissance of the theater and the group knew there were a dozen gang members inside, along with the mysterious Dream Master. A frontal assault seemed unlikely to succeed, especially considering how hurt they were at the moment.

It was at that moment that Alarendel calmly walked up to them “hey guys, wha’d I miss?” And then he saw the bodies. “a lot, apparently.”

“So where were you?” asked Dragur.

“Attending to an important … ritual ... forgive me.”

Games that Changed Everything: Feng Shui

First in a series!

One of the things I really like talking about is the history of the hobby of RPGs, since I was brought up in Wisconsin and played with some of the people responsible for creating the hobby.

As I get older, I see a lot of newer players (AKA “kids”) who don’t have the same history that I do, and I feel that there’s a duty to talk about the hobby and how it came to be. Or in other words:

We needs to do the tellin’ so we ‘member who we was.
(Yeah, that was a Beyond Thunderdome quote, so sue me…)

Sometimes work calls

Just a quick update for those of you who faithfully read OnTheDie. Work has called for a moment, so I had to miss last Friday's post.

I'll be back tomorrow and this Friday: never fear!

See you tomorrow... until then Stay 20.

13th Age Campaign Session II: The Ratsmashers Very. Bad. Day.

13th Age Session II -- The Ratsmashers Have a Very Bad Day

… or “Watch out for the Purple Haze”

Note: this entry is going to be a long one, but we had a fun session, and I’d love to hear what you think about the direction of the game.

The second session picked up right where we left off: in the middle of Hawk’s Square. One of the survivors who had witnessed the fight, Elsa Whiterose, gave Alarendel quite a bit of information about what had happened. Elsa is a priestess of the Lady of Light, a member of the God’s of Light Pantheon, who runs the Lost Hope Mission in Eldolan’s Warrens or tenement district. Elsa thanked Alarendel for his quick work, as it had doubtless saved the two student’s lives who were initially attacked by the zombies. She also told Alarendel that the bite of a zombie might require attention from a priest of the light to avoid a terrible transformation into undeath and a fall into darkness.

Alarendel was greatly upset by this, and fled the area.

Toolkit: The Truth of the World

Mrs. Sith and I recently saw Evil Dead the Musical, which we very thoroughly enjoyed.

Yes, there will be blood!

Yes, this is an actual thing. What, you were thinking after telling you about the Mike Tyson Mysteries that I'd make something like this up?

September and the Discerning Nerd

Fall and what you, the discerning nerd should do about it

The beautiful fall colors you won't ever see because you're too busy watching TV

With September comes the beginnings of fall. The happy voices of parents who have children back in school, the arrival of football and the advent of beautiful autumn colors.

At OnTheDie we aren't concerned with any of that.

With September comes the fall TV shows, and gives you a chance to enjoy new programming, some of which will doubtless not make it to Halloween.

There are a lot of new shows coming, and many of them are targeted at the nerd demographic. How can you hear about everything before it’s gone? Well relax: I've done the work for you this year. Take a look at the OnTheDie Fall Nerd TV preview.

13th Age Campaign Session I: Arrival at Eldolan

13 Age Campaign Session I -- Arrival at Endolan

I just started a new 13th Age game that will be running every other Sunday for my Pegasus Games group. I like 13th Age a lot, and as of now it’s going to be my go-to replacement game for Dungeons and Dragons. I’m working on a review of what’s available for the new 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons at the moment, and you’ll see why I’m not going with it at that point. It’s going to be much like the new edition’s artwork: not very pretty.

If you’d like to see a much more positive review for 5E, head over to Vorpal Chainsword, where Cory may ask you to get off of his lawn.

But let’s keep things light and positive. I’m not sure how many of you out there are familiar with 13th Age: it’s an OGL game (which I like very much) and it’s written by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, who worked on Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons. That means there’s more than a little influence from the “indie” and “story games” movements, but also without the grid and miniatures.

I’m going to do a separate review of the game itself, after I finish with the one for 5E, so you can directly see the differences between the two games.

But, let’s talk about my actual game here since that’s the point of this blog post. When I specifically talk mechanics, I'll format things like so.

A Quick Note on update day changes

Blog posting day changes

Just a quick note for everyone: I will have to change the days for updating the blog. Mondays are just a bad day for me (I guess I have a case of the Mondays every week) and so I'll be updating the blog every Tuesday and Saturday.

Tuesday will still be RPG content, while Fridays will remain general nerd content.

Yes, this means there will be an update TODAY, Stay tuned, True Believers!

Review: One Bright Star to Guide Them

Book Review Time: One Bright Star to Guide Them

Get One Bright Star to Guide Them at Amazon or Castalia House.

Final Rating: 5/5 or “I’ll sleep when it’s done”

For this entry, I’m going to tackle a review of John C. Wright’s novella, One Bright Star to Guide Them. When I do reviews, I don’t just review the work, but I’m also going to tell you how I came to the work and why I’m bothering to write about it. Some of you don’t like that, so if you like, you can skip down to the review proper...

Shadows of Brimstone II: this time with 1000% more review action

The Shadows of Brimstone Review

Shadows of Brimstone is a new boardgame that (as of this review) is just on the cusp of being released. Since the game has a lot of similarities to Warhammer Quest, I’m going to be making a few call-outs in this review. They’ll look like this.

Shadows comes from a little company called Flying Frog Productions. FFP makes some great, highly thematic games like Last Night on Earth, A Touch of Evil, and (Vorpal Chainsword Favorite) Fortune and Glory.

Shadows of Brimstone part I: Warhammer Quest

I want to talk today about the new game Shadows of Brimstone, but in order for me to do that I really need to talk about another game first, and that’s Warhammer Quest.

(Because this post actually turned out to be so long, and have so little to do with Shadows, I’m actually going to break it into two sub-entries. Not what you were looking for? Well … it is my blog after all. Tune in tomorrow for the actual Shadows review.)

We need to step into the WABAC Machine and set our course for 1995. I remember it as if it were yesterday: meeting with my fellow Sith every Wednesday for Shipwrecks and to talk about this new show called Babylon 5… it was a golden age,

It was the year that Games Workshop released this amazing game to the world that pretty much took over our gaming group for the summer. So what was it?

August 2014: Guardians of the Galaxy

The Month in Review: August 2014

The last Friday of every month I’m going to do a wrap-up of the nerd related things that, well, frankly … that I cared about. So August 2014... this is the month that was. This month I’m going to focus on one of the best films I’ve seen recently. It’s a film that as a Marvel I’ve been been dreading since I first heard about it: Guardians of the Galaxy.

Ah, another visitor. Stay a while. Stay forever.

After a few years of downtime, I've decided that I'm going to get back into the blogging world.

This is day one of my new blog experiment, and we'll see how it works at this point. So if you're reading this, welcome! You can say in the future that you were there, right from the beginning of things.

What's the Title About?

So this is actually my second blog with the name "20 on the die." I'm moving it over to blogger to better align with our new Google overlords because it offers me a better ability to upload podcasts, which I intend to do on a monthly basis. Look for the first one in September, technical difficulties notwithstanding. So the blog is titled "20 on the Die," and a bit of explanation is in order.

This is a nerd/gaming blog, so I expect most if not all of my readers have played a little Dungeons and Dragons. I have this particular friend who, when he makes a die roll that ends up as a 20, announces it as "20 on the die!!!" with a degree of fanfare and excitement that breaks up even an otherwise monotonous game session. That's what this blog is designed to do to your week: wake up the nerd in you, the way that only a 20 can!

So What's the Schedule for Updates?

Right now, my plan is to update on Monday and Friday. Monday's updates will be RPG and gaming related. Friday's updates will be pop culture and generally nerd related. Two updates a week? Sounds optimistic. I'm going to work out a schedule about what you can expect as things go forward, but to quote one of my heroes, there's no plan yet, I'm making this up as I go along.

First Contest

One of the things I want to do is have at least a monthly contest on the blog. The prizes will be the infamous 20OnTheDie No-Prize, along with the accolades of the legions of adoring fans the blog is going to develop. The first contest is pretty simple: Tell me what the title of this blog post is referring to. Now I know if the second decade of this new millennium, there are easy ways to find out all about this, but there's a requirement that I'm going to put out, and that brings us to our first sponsor for the blog:

That's right, Microsoft heard about my new blog and is sponsoring it through bing. I know, exciting, right? So if you want to cheezily search out your answer to the contest, you have to use bing.  Any other search engine, excepting Alta Vista will immediately disqualify you. How will I know? Oh, I'll know, that I promise you. Actually, using any search engine for this particular contest is especially sad: you should lose 10 quatloos of if you didn't recognize it immediately.

Your Homework

This blog is also unique in that it has homework. Yours is to check out Vorpal Chainsword, especially their review of Shadows of Brimstone, the new boardgame we're going to talk about on Monday. Failure to read it will go on your permanent record!

 See everyone Friday for the first 20OnTheDie Month in Review. What mysteries will we uncover that man was not meant to know about? See for yourself. And Make Mine 20!